Family Time on the Water

With a free weekend on the calendar and temperatures in Pennsylvania on the rise, I decided to visit my folks for their first paddle of 2013. The fact that their home water is a decent hybrid muskie lake made the calculus even easier, and I was homeward bound, hoping some fish would be going through the spawning motions.

We loaded up the vehicles in hopes that the forecast would hold, but we arrived at the launch to find somewhat sporty conditions.

The local sailing club didn’t seem to mind.

My dad doesn’t fish, and although my mom does, she decided to forego her rod, exploring the lake with my dad while I flung enormous flies and lures. It was great to have a camera crew “on call” in case I happened to hang a decent fish.

After getting blown over some decent-looking contours, I decided to explore a promising cove. Unfortunately, the fish remained elusive. There were a number of other anglers out, fishing for bass and crappie, but they indicated that they weren’t hooking up with their target species either. One of the anglers felt the need to have a full blast cell phone conversation, even to the point of describing the kayaks around him, maybe in hopes that his friend on the line would recognize one of the boats and say “follow that one.” I was described as “the guy with a red flag and 16 rods who’s always out here,” which was odd, considering that this was my first trip on the lake in years. He was right about one thing, though: Trying to throw a huge fly in that wind, it sure felt like I had 16 rods on board with the inevitable tangles. This is why I’m typically a minimalist, especially when throwing flies.

I continued to prod the shallows, without success. My parents didn’t notice anything during their tour of the lake, either. In fact, the only telltale swirl of the day came when I ran over a spot I’d fished before beaching for lunch. Oh well.

As the day warmed, my folks found a few turtles that climbed out of the shallows to bask.

All in all, it was great to spend a day on the water as a family and share my parents’ first paddle of the year. Hopefully I’ll be able to make a few more trips up for my next 1000 casts. Next time, I’m hoping for a cooperative fish or two.

Ben is an avid kayak angler who plies the waters of Hampton Roads, Virginia with fly and light tackle. A transplanted Yankee, he developed a true taste for the salt after moving south of the Mason-Dixon. He is a proud HOW volunteer and remains loyal to http://www.flyfishersparadise.com/, his employer throughout college. Ben can be found on the water under cover of darkness, waving a stick in a plastic boat. He is slowly but surely learning to gear fish.